


A Comparison of Coffee

by TwinkleToestheBerserker



Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-10 05:16:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20522552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwinkleToestheBerserker/pseuds/TwinkleToestheBerserker
Summary: Demeter takes her coffee black.





	1. Coffee

Demeter drank her coffee black.

Persephone wasn’t really sure why. Her mother loved honey and sugar and cream in other things. But she drank her coffee blacker than the richest earth, stronger than the tallest tree, and bitterer than the bitterest herb. Every spring when she got home she would pour herself a cup of that bitter black coffee, and resign herself.

It was only a few months. It was how her mother insisted coffee be drunk. Surely she could stand it for just a few months, she told herself. Surely this year she would manage to endure the black, bitter coffee of her mother. Six months. That wasn’t so bad, was it?

She endured the black coffee through spring, and into summer. As the summer wore on, she would add to the bitter dark coffee in her cup. Just some sugar here. Her mother wouldn’t notice. Just a little sugar. Then a little more. Just a little more. Then spices. So unnoticed against the dark backdrop of the bitter dark coffee. Nutmeg. Cinnamon. Cloves. Ginger.

On September 21, she would add the slightest amount of cream, to her mother’s dismay. Sometimes she would wait until the 22nd. And then she would quietly pack her things and go visit Artemis on Olympus. Hera and Eros would come by for a party, and sometimes Hecate. No Boys Allowed. Eros didn’t count.

In the morning, on the 22nd or the 23rd, every year, she would stop by the same coffee shop. She would order two coffees, always to go. And then she would walk very slowly, very primly, to the train station, watching the trees change around her from green to yellow and orange. She loved the smell, the taste of fall.

When she reached the office building for the Underground, her first visit was to Cerberus. She would set aside the coffee she had so carefully carried with her and heap love on the dog for a good half an hour. After all, he had been such a good boy while she was away, and she always had some kind of treat for him. This year a bone, the next a biscuit, sometimes some meat if she had really missed him.

Then she would make her way to the elevator. It would take a while to get to the top, with all the people coming and going. When she finally got where she was going, she would stop, breathing in the heady aroma from the mint plant growing at the front desk. Some years she felt sad, that it had ended like that. Other years she felt smug. Well, people had learned not to underestimate her, at least.

And then she would calmly walk through the doors to his office, no matter what kind of meeting he was in. She would hand him his coffee, give him a kiss on the cheek, and retreat to her own office. After all, he was busy, and she’d been away for six months. She had plenty of work to catch up on.

Hades drank his pumpkin spice latte every year and revelled in the return of fall.


	2. I Missed You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Persephone comes home early.

Persephone breezed through his meeting on August 31st with her usual pumpkin spice latte in hand and breezed out again after giving him his. He waited patiently for the meeting to end. It wasn’t an important meeting, just a daily tally, and nothing was terribly amiss. If he rushed out a little earlier than he usually would have, well. His wife was back.

“Persephone?” Hades asked, stepping into her office, his latte still in hand. “Not that I mind, but I wasn’t expecting you for another three weeks. Is everything okay with Demeter?”

She smiled, her smile lighting up the room like it always did. “Oh, everything with mom is fine! I just…” She sighed, her smile fading as she looked out the window at the Underworld. “I was helping a mortal woman’s roses when I heard her daughter talking on the phone. She was saying she missed her husband. And I missed _ you. _” Her pink cheeks flushed magenta.

He felt his heart squeeze as he went to his wife and held her. “Perse. I missed you too.” He heard a sniff and looked down. “Are you crying?” He asked, startled.

“No!” She sniffed again. “Maybe a little.” She threw her arms around him. “Hades, that girl was so sad! And I just couldn’t take it anymore. Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad, sweetness, I’m just a little confused” He reassured her hurriedly. He set down his latte on her desk and knelt next to her chair, his hand on her cheek. “Persephone, why didn’t you call me? You usually call me when you get like this.”

Persephone just cried. “That girl went home to her husband just a few days later. I wanted to do that too. I wanted to be with you.” She surged forward to throw her arms around him, and he fell back, his arms full of the hot pink goddess. “Oh, Aidoneus, it gets worse every year. I just miss you!”

“Kore…” He breathed, his arms closing tight around her. “I’m right here.” He buried his face in her suddenly long hair, filled with freesia and zinnias. “I’ll always be right here.”

“I have to go back earlier and earlier every year.” Persephone sniffled. “Everything is changing in the mortal world.”

He sighed. “I know.” He shifted slightly so that he was leaning against the wall as he sat on the floor. “You could stay late this year, you know. I wouldn’t mind, and I’ve heard a few mortals say they wouldn’t mind.”

“Mother would mind.”

He tilted her head up and kissed her gently. “Forget about her. You’re early, stay late. Zeus doesn’t care anyway.”

She giggled, wiping away her tears. “I guess you’re right.” She snuggled into his chest. “Can we just stay like this for a little bit? I know you have work, and I’ve barely started mine, but…”

He kissed the top of her head. “As long as you need, sweetness. We can stay like this for however long you need.”


	3. Nightmares Without Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hades contemplates coffee and nightmares.

Hades sucked down the last of his latte and threw the cup in his trash. Hecate had taken to buying him pumpkin spice lattes as soon as they were available in late August. He didn’t know how to hell her that he hated pumpkin spice. Nutmeg was disgusting. The cinnamon they used wasn’t even real cinnamon, it was that fake stuff that just tasted like burning. Cloves? Ew. Ginger was okay.

It was September 9th. Two more weeks.

He scrubbed his hands over his face and tried to focus on his paperwork. It was hard to focus, this late in the summer. He missed his wife. He knew she had important work to do in the mortal work, but… he needed her. He needed her so badly. He had horrible nightmares when she left in the spring, and they persisted all through spring and summer. The only time the nightmares stopped was when she was back with him.

The door to his office opened. He didn’t look up until he felt a warm kiss on his cold cheek. He registered the cup of coffee next to him and his hand shot out, grasping the hot pink goddess by the waist and pulling her into his arms. Her arms went around him, and she stood there for a moment, letting him breathe her in.

“Hecate called,” she said quietly. “She said you weren’t doing so well. I came as soon as I could.”

He wound his hands into the fabric of her dress. “I never do well when you’re away.”

She sighed. “I don’t either.” She tapped his shoulder lightly, and he let her go. She kissed him gently, and he clung to her for a moment. “We’ll talk after work, okay? I have so much to catch up on.” He nodded and watched her go before picking up his coffee.

He  _ loved _ pumpkin spice.


	4. I'm Yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hades obvious missed Persephone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With apologies to Jason Mraz.

Persephone walked into Hades' office, juggling the lattes in her hands and pushing the door open with her butt. She knew he wasn’t in a meeting because she’d met Hecate on the elevator, so she came in smiling. “Hades! I’m home!” she said jubilantly. She paused when she saw him. “What’s that you have there? An instrument?”

Hades just smiled and lifted the small guitar-like object to his chest and began to strum. And then to her surprise, he began to sing.

“Well you done done me and you bet I felt it  
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted,”

He winked as he continued to play, and she walked over to set down the coffees on his desk, smiling. This was probably the cutest thing he had ever done for her when she came back from the mortal realm! She clasped her hands together and watched him play and sing for her.

“I fell right through the cracks  
And now I'm trying to get back  
Before the cool done run out  
I'll be giving it my best-est  
And nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention  
I reckon it's again my turn  
To win some or learn some  
But I won't hesitate no more, no more  
It cannot wait, I'm yours,”

He moved around her as he played, dancing a little for her

“Well open up your mind and see like me  
Open up your plans and damn you're free  
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love  
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing   
We are just one big family  
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved,”

She brought her hands up to her heart. Loved. Yes, she certainly was that.

“So I won't hesitate no more, no more  
It cannot wait I'm sure  
There's no need to complicate  
Our time is short  
This is our fate, I'm yours”

She felt tears behind her eyes. It was true. Their time was far too short. And he was surely hers, just like she was surely his.

“Do you want to come on, scooch on over closer, dear  
And I will nibble your ear”

He pressed closer to her and nipped lightly on her ear and she felt her breath skip. Gods, he was so sweet and hot. She pressed her hands to her cheeks, squirming a little.

“I've been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror  
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer  
But my breath fogged up the glass  
And so I drew a new face and I laughed  
I guess what I been saying is there ain't no better reason  
To rid yourself of vanity and just go with the seasons  
It's what we aim to do  
Our name is our virtue  
But I won't hesitate no more, no more  
It cannot wait I'm yours”

He leaned against his desk next to her as he sang her the last chorus.

“Well open up your mind and see like me  
Open up your plans and damn you're free  
Look into your heart and you'll find the sky is yours  
So please don't please don't please don't   
There's no need to complicate  
'Cause our time is short  
This, oh this, this is our fate, I'm yours”

He finished with a flourish and she threw her arms around him, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He caught her with a laugh, setting the little guitar thing on the desk and pulling her in for a proper kiss. “Did you like it, sweetness?” he asked, cuddling her close.

“I loved it!” she squealed. “Hades, what is that thing? When did you learn to play and sing like that? Oh my goodness!”

He laughed. “It’s a ukulele. This lovely mortal named George Harrison has been teaching me to play for a while now. Another mortal who died recently said that’s a popular love song in the mortal realm right now, and taught me to play and sing it.” He buried his face in her hair. “I missed you so much this year, but learning this song for you made it easier.”

“You can surprise me like this anytime,” she told him and kissed his neck.

He pulled away and picked up her hand and a coffee. He handed it to her and then picked up the other coffee for himself. “Let’s play hooky for the rest of the day.”

She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Okay.” They walked out of his office, coffees in hand, smiles on their faces, and a song in both of their hearts.


End file.
